Skip to the text

Ecclesiastes · JPS Tanakh (1917)

Ecclesiastes 3 JPS Tanakh (1917)

Leer en español
About JPS
  • Jewish
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 1917
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (1)

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; 4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 9 What profit hath he that worketh in that he laboureth? 10 I have seen the task which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in its time; also He hath set the world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to get pleasure so long as they live. 13 But also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy pleasure for all his labour, is the gift of God. 14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from it; and God hath so made it, that men should fear before Him. 15 That which is hath been long ago, and that which is to be hath already been; and God seeketh that which is pursued. 16 And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. 17 I said in my heart: 'The righteous and the wicked God will judge; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.' 18 I said in my heart: 'It is because of the sons of men, that God may sift them, and that they may see that they themselves are but as beasts.' 19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all return to dust. 21 Who knoweth the spirit of man whether it goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast whether it goeth downward to the earth? 22 Wherefore I perceived that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion; for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

Cross references (22)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Ecclesiastes 3:17; Matthew 16:3; Ecclesiastes 8:5–6; Ecclesiastes 7:14; 2 Kings 5:26
  2. 2 Hebrews 9:27; Job 14:5; Matthew 15:13; Jeremiah 18:7–10; John 16:21
  3. 3 Hosea 6:1–2; 1 Samuel 2:6; Jeremiah 45:4; Jeremiah 31:28; Deuteronomy 32:39
  4. 4 Romans 12:15; Psalm 30:5; James 4:9; John 16:20–22; Psalm 126:1–2
  5. 5 2 Kings 3:25; Joshua 10:27; Joshua 4:3–9; Joel 2:16; 1 Samuel 21:4–5
  6. 6 Philippians 3:7–8; Luke 9:24–25; Mark 8:35–37; Matthew 16:25–26; Mark 10:28–30
  7. 7 Micah 7:5; Amos 5:13; Esther 4:13–14; Lamentations 3:28; Acts 4:20
  8. 8 Ephesians 5:25; Ephesians 5:28–29; Luke 14:26; 1 Kings 5:4; 2 Chronicles 19:2
  9. 9 Ecclesiastes 1:3; Proverbs 14:23; Ecclesiastes 5:16; Ecclesiastes 2:22–23; Matthew 16:26
  10. 10 Ecclesiastes 1:13–14; Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 2:26; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8
  11. 11 Romans 11:33; Romans 1:19–20; Job 11:7; Ecclesiastes 8:17; Job 5:9
  12. 12 Psalm 37:3; Ecclesiastes 3:22; 1 Timothy 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:15–16; Acts 20:35
  13. 13 Ecclesiastes 9:7; Ecclesiastes 2:24; Isaiah 65:21–23; Psalm 128:2; Ecclesiastes 5:18–20
  14. 14 James 1:17; Psalm 33:11; Romans 11:36; Acts 5:39; Proverbs 30:6
  15. 15 Ecclesiastes 1:9–10; Ecclesiastes 6:10
  16. 16 Ecclesiastes 4:1; Ecclesiastes 5:8; 1 Kings 21:9–21; Psalm 58:1–2; Acts 23:3
  17. 17 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ecclesiastes 12:14; Ecclesiastes 3:1; Matthew 16:27; Psalm 98:9
  18. 18 Psalm 73:22; Psalm 49:12; Hebrews 9:27; 2 Peter 2:12; Genesis 3:17–19
  19. 19 Psalm 49:12; Psalm 49:20; Job 14:10–12; Ecclesiastes 2:14; Psalm 89:47–48
  20. 20 Genesis 3:19; Job 34:15; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Numbers 27:13; Job 10:9–10
  21. 21 Ecclesiastes 12:7; John 14:3; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Luke 16:22–23; Philippians 1:23
  22. 22 Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:11–12; Ecclesiastes 8:7; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 10:14

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

Articles and answers on this site that cite Ecclesiastes 3.

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 3:21 Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (Book XIII, Chapters 21–23)

    … knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" or of beast, as in the book of Solomon, "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" or of that physical spirit which is called wind, for so the Psalmist calls it: …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)

  2. Quotes verse 3:2 Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures (Lecture XX)

    And what Solomon spoke of others will suit you also; for he said, in that case, There is a time to bear and a time to die; but to you, in the reverse order, there was a time to die and a time to be born; and one and the same time effected both of these, and your birth …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)

  3. Quotes verse 3:1 Gregory of Nazianzus, Theological Orations (The First Theological Oration)

    As of even honey repletion and satiety, though it be of honey, produce vomiting; and, as Solomon says and I think, there is a time for every thing, and that which is good ceases to be good if it be not done in a good way; just as a flower is quite out of season in winter, and just as …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)

  4. Quotes verse 3:7 Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit (Chapters XXVIII–XXIX)

    Or perhaps this was the time for silence spoken of by Solomon the wise. For, when life is buffeted by so fierce a storm that all the intelligence of those who are instructed in the word is filled with the deceit of false reasoning and confounded, like an eye filled with dust, when men are stunned by strange and awful …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)

  5. Quotes verse 3:5 Augustine of Hippo, On Christian Doctrine (Book III, Chapters 17–21)

    And, accordingly, if these last had been still alive at the advent of our Lord, when the time not of casting stones away but of gathering them together had come, they would have immediately made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)